John Stamos

"Mary-Kate and Ashley, who played Michelle, were great. I miss them, I love them and I need to borrow some money from them." - John Stamos

Have mercy! More than 20 years after ruling the roost on Full House, John Stamos is back on top thanks to his impressive four-year run on ER as bad-boy physician Dr. Tony Gates. The challenging role showcased his impressive range while proving that he was just as comfortable performing in a pair of scrubs as he was in a pair of obscenely tight acid-washed jeans. “The last few years have made me a much more interesting person,” he says. “This all really does feel like a rebirth, a new chapter.”

MAGNETISM

John Stamos has never had a problem wooing the fairer sex. Uncle Jesse has dated some of the finest fillies in Hollywood, including Demi Moore, Paula Abdul, Heather Locklear, Natasha Henstridge, Chelsea Noble, Denise Richards, Sheryl Crow, Emma Heming and Rebecca Romijn, to whom he was married from 1998 until 2005. Although he’s presently single, he hopes to extend his legacy one day by producing a litter of little Stamos babes. “I want to have children,” he says. “That’s the only thing missing in my life. I certainly thought I’d have some by now.”

SUCCESS

It would be easy to dismiss John Stamos as being little more than a one-dimensional heartthrob. It would be also dead wrong. Dig a little deeper beyond his mullet and matinee smile and you’ll discover that this multitalented performer is an award-winning actor, musician and producer whose career has spanned over 25 years and has included appearances in some of television’s most enduring programs, including General Hospital, Full House, Friends, and ER. Along the way, he’s also dabbled in the theater, where his exceptional performances in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Cabaret have won him the approval of Broadway’s most discerning critics. “I've had a fairy tale life,” he says. “I’ve lived a lot of life but a lot of good life.”

John Stamos Biography

John Stamos owes his career to Happy Days. This handsome heartthrob first decided to become an actor after accompanying his class to a taping of the hit sitcom during a high school field trip. The experience convinced him to pursue a life in the arts and he made his professional acting debut six months after graduating when he was cast as bad boy rocker Blackie Parrish on General Hospital. Although many actors are dismissive of soap operas, Stamos insists the show provided him with a fabulous introduction into showbiz.

“[It taught me] discipline,” he says. “You’ve got to be there every day and there‘s a lot of dialogue. When my character started to get popular, I was learning 30 pages a day of dialogue or something. You’d have to go through every emotion in one hour: sad, mad, crying, up and down, all over. So, for that it was good.” It was also good for getting much-needed exposure and name recognition, things that every young actor craves. Stamos stayed on General Hospital for two years, during which time he won a pair of Soap Opera Digest Awards and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role.

john stamos joins the beach boys

John Stamos graduated to prime time in 1984, when he was cast in Dreams, a CBS series about an aspiring musician. Although the show lasted only 12 episodes, word of his musical prowess soon spread and he was invited to play drums with the Beach Boys the following year. “I used to dream about playing with them,” he says. “My first concert was the Beach Boys. I used to listen to them when I was a kid. I’d listen to the eight-track of Endless Summer. And I remember sitting in the concert, wishing they would come out and say, ‘Listen, the drummer broke his finger. Does anyone know these songs?’ And I’d say, ‘Me!’ That never happened. But I ended up having some friends in the band and I got to play with them a little bit. It was a dream come true.” John Stamos played with the Beach Boys periodically over the next few years while also juggling roles in the films Alice in Wonderland and Never Too Young to Die.

john stamos stars on full house

John Stamos received his big break in 1987, when he was cast as up-and-coming musician Uncle Jesse on Full House. The family-friendly ABC sitcom stayed on the air for eight seasons, during which time it won six Young Artist Awards. It also received its fair share of scorn for its sugary sweet story lines. "The whole time I was on it, I wished I was on another show, I'm not gonna lie to you,” he admits. “But I look back on it fondly, and I'm proud of it. Was it Seinfeld, Friends, Mary Tyler Moore? No. Was it a heartwarming show you could watch with your kids? Yes. And there's nothing wrong with that."

john stamos appears on broadway

Unfortunately, the next 10 years were not quite as fruitful for John Stamos, as he found himself relegated to appearances in a string of made-for-television movies including Sealed with a Kiss, Fortunate Son and The Reagans. He also kept himself out of the breadlines by dabbling in the theater, where he appeared in the Broadway musicals Cabaret, Nine and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.

john stamos joins the cast of er

John Stamos received another shot at helming his own sitcom in 2005, when he was cast as Jake Philips in Jake in Progress, an ABC comedy about a suave New York publicist. Unfortunately, the show failed to attract a sizable audience and was axed after 21 episodes. The sudden demise of Jake in Progress opened the doors for other opportunities and Stamos’ career received a welcome boost later that year when he signed on to appear in two episodes of ER as hardened war vet Dr. Tony Gates. “I felt like that kid who got the golden ticket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” he says. “I've been offered chocolate bars all these years, but there had been no golden ticket. Just the stomachache that was called Jake in Progress. But then I got cast on ER, I knew I'd be playing a great character and I knew the show was great. I figured if I got this show canceled, I'd have to quit show business.”

John Stamos was invited to join ER on a permanent basis the following year and he stayed with the show until its final episode on April 2, 2009. “It [was] really a highlight of my career,” he says. “It was just the right time for me to be in the show. So it [was] a great experience.”

john stamos returns to broadway

Now that ER is no longer on the air, John Stamos plans to return to Broadway this fall in the eagerly anticipated revival of Bye Bye Birdie. “This is a big shot for me,” he says. “I'm putting every ounce of everything I have in this. If I could pick anything on the planet to do after the last three years on television, it would be to go back to Broadway.” In his spare time, he’s also working on bringing Full House to the big screen. “I want to do that,” he says. “I want to do it like what they did with The Brady Bunch. Recast; I wouldn't do it with us. That's kind of in the works.”